Handy Who?
by Thomas Evans
Summary: When the T.A.R.D.I.S. crashes in Sheetrock Hills, only one man can help the Doctor get back on track.


The Doctor arched his back and screamed out in pain before slumping forward again. "Kidneys," he said, standing straight. "I've got new kidneys. I don't like the color."

"Of your kidneys," Clara asked incredulous. She was quite taken aback after having watched the man she fancied regenerate into this, seemingly older man. She already missed the coif and bowtie of her Doctor, but didn't have time to wonder if this new incarnation would measure up. The Doctor seemed about to answer when the T.A.R.D.I.S. gave a sudden lurch. "What's happening?" she asked as he spun towards the console.

"We're probably crashing," the Doctor said as he stumbled to the console. "Oh!"

"Into what?" Clara cried, hoping they weren't being attacked instead.

"Stay calm," the Doctor said, looking at the console in confusion. "Just one question," He said, looking at her with his piercing blue eyes. "Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?"

Leonard Lopart heard a strange sound coming from outside of his candy store. He looked up from his counter and wondered what on Earth could be making the sound. It certainly sounded mechanical, and he wondered if a passing motorist might be in trouble. His neighbor Manny was out of his shop at the moment, so perhaps Mr. Lopart could lend his considerable talents to the stranger. "Come on Fluffy," he said to his slightly overweight cat. "Let's go see what's going on."

When Mr. Lopart stepped outside his shop, he was surprised to see there were no motorists passing on the street. He did however, see what looked like an old blue telephone booth lying on its side right between his shop and Manny's Repair Shop. "Well, that's new," Mr. Lopart said. "But it's strange that the phone company would put a phone booth here, let alon just leave it lying on its side like that."

"Good morning Mr. Lopart," Kelly said from behind him. Mr. Lopart turned to look at the pretty red haired woman that ran the hardware store a few doors down.

"Oh, hello Kelly," Mr. Lopart said. "I was worried that something bad was happening when I heard that noise."

"You heard it too?" Kelly asked.

"Oh, yes." Mr. Lopard said. "It sounded like someone was trying to drive off with their brakes locked."

"I know," Kelly said. "But I didn't see any vehicles passing when I stepped out."

"No," Mr. Lopart said, looking around, slightly disappointed. "The only thing I found was this phone booth laying on the sidewalk."

"Mr. Lopart," Kelly said, finally looking at the box. "That's no ordinary phone booth."

"What?"

"That's a police call box from England," Kelly said.

"But why would it be here?" Mr. Lopart asked.

"I'm not sure," Kelly said, bending down to peer at the box.

"You'd think that Mayor Rosa would insist they install it properly," Mr. Lopart said.

"Maybe we should let Officer Pete know that the crew just left it laying here," Kelly said. Suddenly, Kelly heard thumping sounds coming from underneath the call box. "Oh," she said. "I wonder what that is."

"Hello," A man called from under the call box. "Can anyone hear me?" he shouted. Kelly recognized the Scottish accent in the man's voice, but that out of place voice concerned her less than the fact that someone may be trapped either inside this call box or under it.

"Mr. Lopart," Kelly cried. "We need to get help. Someone is trapped."

Mr. Lopart had heard the cries of the man himself and became nervous. Technically, this portion of the sidewalk was on his property. "I'll call Chief Eduardo," Mr. Lopart said, running inside his shop to call the fire department.

"I'll call for some more help," Kelly said, fishing out her cell phone."

The Doctor turned back to Clara and huffed. "This must be entirely your fault," he said as he went over to the console. "Whatever is going on, wherever we are, we are obviously trapped somehow. That looked like cement outside that door."

"We're not trapped inside anything are we?" Clara asked.

"Don't be silly girl," the Doctor said, going down the steps and heading to the corridor. As he turned the corner, she heard him shout, "If we were inside something, the cement wouldn't be so smooth."

Clara let out an exasperated sigh and ran after this new Doctor. "Then what is going on?" she asked when she finally caught up to him.

"I haven't the slightest," he said. Clara couldn't figure out what was irritating her more at this moment, the man's silly greying hair or his even sillier Scottish accent. When he suddenly turned a corner and slipped into a room full of clothing strewn about, she decided that his unpredictable nature was similar enough to her Doctor that she could possibly get along with him. If she didn't kill him first.

"So what are you going to do?" Clara asked as the man started picking up different items, looking them over and discarding them with no care of where they landed.

"For the moment," the Doctor said. "I am going to get into something decent." He picked up a white shirt with some crisp cuffs and nodded. "I look a bloody fool in these things," he said indicating the jacket he just removed and tossed aside.

Clara decided to wait out in the corridor while the Doctor changed clothes. She couldn't be sure with this new person, but she figured he would have the same lack of modesty as _her_ Doctor and she was decidedly not ready for that. After a few minutes, the new Doctor emerged from the room and smiled at her, the first one she'd seen on him since his regeneration. H held out his arms and spun in place.

"Well," he said. "What do you think?"

Clara took in the dark blue jacket and the waistcoat. Except for appearing to be a century out of date, she had to admit that he did look quite dashing, even if it made the rest of his face appear more extreme, at least the outfit did make his eyes all the bluer. "Fabulous," she said sarcastically. "Now will you tell me how we're going to get out of here?"

"Well, I expect Manny will eventually-" the Doctor was interrupted as the T.A.R.D.I.S. lurched again and nearly knocked them off their feet.

Outside, Kelly listened as the phone rang on the other end of her call. "Hola," the now familiar voice said when the call connected. Handy Manny's Repairs. You break it-"

"We fix it," the voices of Manny's tools called in the background.

"Hello Manny, this is Kelly," the woman said.

"Oh, hello, Kelly," Manny said. "Como estas?"

"We have an emergency at the shop Manny," Kelly said. "There's a British police call box laying on the sidewalk and it sounds like someone is trapped in it."

"Oh no," Manny said.

"Mr. Lopart is calling Chief Eduardo," Kelly said. "But I figured I'd better give you a call too, just in case we need more help."

"Gracias, Kelly," Manny said. "We're on our way." Manny closed his cell phone and put it in his pocket. "Looks like there's an emergency back at the shop. Let's go, tools. Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve!" Manny pointed to each of his eight tools as he counted, pointing to himself as he said "nueve", marking him the last member of the team. The tools began hopping towards his toolbox.

"Hop up, jump in," they sang as they assembled.

"Come on let's go," Pat, the hammer sang.

"Hop up, jump in," they all repeated.

"Si, vamanos," Filipe, the phillip's-head screwdriver sang. With Rusty, the monkey wrench saying "Ho, ho!"

All eight tools again sang, "Hop up, jump in."

"Don't move too slow," Stretch, the tape measure sang.

"Keep up," Turner, the straight-head screwdriver admonished.

The entire group concluded the song with, "Let's get to work, muy rapido!" They all celebrated as Manny picked up his now full tool box and headed back to his shop.

As Manny pulled his pickup to the curb in front of his shop, he saw that Chief Eduardo was already on the scene. "Hola, Jefe, hola, Kelly," Manny said as he approached them.

"Hola, Manny," they said in unison.

"Where did this call box come from?" Manny asked.

"No one knows," Mr. Lopart said, coming around Kelly to join the group. "But we heard someone inside calling for help."

"We all pitched in to try to lift it, Manny," Chief Eduardo said. "It's just too heavy."

"Hmmm," Manny said. "Maybe we can build a pulley system to lift it up. All we need is a rope and something to use as a pulley."

"Hmm," Chief Eduardo said. "Maybe we can use the rungs on the fire ladder."

"That is excelente, an excellent idea, Chief," Manny said. "All we need now is a rope."

"I have plenty of rope at the hardware store," Kelly said.

"I'm not even a little surprised," Turner said from the tool box.

"Why don't you run and get the rope," Manny said. "Chief Eduardo, Mr. Lopart and I will get everything ready."

As Kelly ran off towards her shop, Mr. Lopart scratched the back of his head. "Where should I start, Manny?" he asked.

"Well, while Chief Eduardo is getting the ladder in position, you should probably grab a first aid kit in case whoever's in there is injured." The three men scattered in different directions to get everything ready for the rescue.

"What do you mean 'she won't start'?" Clara shouted as the Doctor continued trying to initiate the ship's engines.

"Precisely what I said," he snapped. "The engines aren't starting and as a result of that, we cannot get ourselves out of this particular situation."

"So you mean we're stuck here?"

"At least until we can fix the problem," the Doctor said.

"Well, we may need help doing that if you can't even find the problem," Clara said testily as she leaned back onto the console, "and fix it."

"Well it would help matters if I could find my screwdriver," the Doctor said. "Don't I usually keep it in me pocket?"

"Normally," Clara said.

"Do you have it?"

"What?"

"No," the Doctor said, thinking. "You wouldn't" He slapped his palm down on the console and dashed for the corridor again.

"Well," Clara said, staring off after him. "He's gonna take a bit of getting used to."

"I found it!" The Doctor shouted, running back into the console room, holding his sonic screwdriver aloft. "It was in me other jacket. Well, HIS jacket. Well, I suppose it was my jacket as well wasn't it?" He gave a slight quirk of his head just as the T.A.R.D.I.S. gave another lurch.

"Okay everyone," Manny said. "Here we go." Manny had tied one end of the rope around the back of his pickup while the rest of them tied the other end around the top of the phone box. Manny pressed the accelerator lightly and gently pulled away from the curb. He let the truck move several feet, watching his rearview mirror occasionally to see the phone box lifting up from the sidewalk. When it was nearly straight, he paused long enough to let his friends straighten the box and make sure it wouldn't fall back to the pavement. At a signal from Chief Eduardo, Manny gently backed into his parking space allowing the rope to go slack and the phone box settle into place.

"That was scary, Manny," Rusty said as the handyman rejoined his friends. "I thought we were gonna rip the top off."

"Don't worry, Rusty," Manny said. "It looks like this call box is built to last."

"We should look inside to check on the man who was trapped," Chief Eduardo said, as he reached for the door. He gave a slight start when the door opened before he could touch it.

"No need for that," the smartly dressed man said from the opening of the call box. "You can call off the fire brigade. Not even so much as a spark."

"Are you alright?" Filipe asked.

"Good lord," the man said, looking down at the tool box, "a talking screwdriver." He held up his own device and frowned. "Why don't you talk?" he asked it.

"Sir," Chief Eduardo said. "Are you injured?"

"Of course not," the man said. "But my… Uh. Listen, I hate to be rude, but you should all just scurry about now. Is there somewhere I can get some help with repairs?"

"Maybe I can help," Manny said. He picked up his toolbox and stepped forward.

The Doctor gave him a quick once over and nodded. "Very well then, but just you."

"What seems to be the problem?" Manny asked as he followed the strange man into the call box. "Whoa." When many stepped into the structure, he expected it to be a tight fit with the other man in there with him. He was overwhelmed by the fact that there was not only another person inside, but the inside of the box was much larger than it should be. "This is much bigger-"

"On the inside," the pretty woman said from the center of the room.

"Yeah," Manny said as he looked around. "This is not really a police box."

"Quite astute, this one." The man said.

"Never mind him," the woman said. "He's just woke up and still cranky." She walked over to Manny and stuck out her hand. "I'm Clare Oswald, This is the Doctor."

"How do you do," Mann said, shaking her hand. He watched as the Doctor moved around the console pointing some kind of gadget at it. "So," Manny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Well, the engine won't start," Clara said.

"To be more precise," the Doctor said. "The engine has seized."

"Well, let's take a look at it," Manny said, setting down his tool box.

"Excuse me," the Doctor said. "I've already thumped it, twice. I just don't understand, that usually does the trick."

"Does the engine stop often?" Manny asked.

"Well, the rotor has just stopped a few times," the Doctor said. "But, I generally give it a good thump and then off we go."

"Hmmm," Manny said. "Let's take a closer look at the rotor."

"Is that possible?" the Doctor asked. "Oh yes, of course it is. I just need to figure out how to… Ah." The doctor flipped a switch on the console and clapped his hands together. Nothing happened. "Oh, well, let's try this then." He turned a dial and flipped another switch. Instantly, the glass tube protecting the time rotor lowered and Manny leaned in to take a closer look at the mechanism.

"I think I see the problem," Manny said. "It looks like the time rotor handbrake and the lockdown mechanism have gotten tangled. They're fused together and preventing the time rotor from moving."

"You know about T.A.R.D.I.S. engines?" Clara asked, dumbfounded.

"Manny knows how to fix anything," Squeeze, the pliers said from the tool box.

"Good lord," the Doctor said. "Do all of them talk?"

"Some of us too much," Turner said.

"I think I can fix this, Doctor," Manny said. "I just need a few things from the hardware store."

"Don't be silly, man." The Doctor said. "This is a very advanced piece of equipment. You can't just replace sensitive components with rubbish from a hardware store."

"I just need a few springs to let the brakes retract properly so they won't overheat and get stuck together again," Manny said.

"Do you think Kelly has the parts to fix the T.A.R.D.I.S., Manny?" Rusty asked.

"Why not," Turner said. "She always seems to have everything else."

"Okay, tools," Manny said. "We have work to do."

All of the tools jumped from the tool box and began bouncing around the console room, performing different tasks. Somehow the required equipment appeared and as Manny and his tools worked on the time rotor, they all sang, "Let's get together and fix it right!"

"Twist and turn," Turner sang alone, followed by Squeeze singing, "Make it tight."

Filipe sang "Trabajamos juntos!" just before everyone sang, "We work together now!"

"Cut it," Dusty, the hand saw sang, followed by Stretch's "measure it." And Pat the hammer's "tap it flat."

Rusty picked up the tune with "Bend and twist," and Dusty added "Just like that."

All off the tools sang "Each of us has a special job. We work together."

"Todos juntos!" Manny interjected, allowing everyone to conclude with, "We can fix it right!"

"It looks like everything is working fine now, Doctor," Manny said. "Just remember to take the brakes off while you're in flight. That way your engines won't make that funny sound."

"I like that sound," the Doctor said.

"Did you want me to take a look at the Chameleon circuit while I'm here?" Manny asked.

"No!" the Doctor said, jumping between the handyman and the T.A.R.D.I.S. console. "I tried that once. She didn't like it."

"She?" Manny asked.

"Well, it looks like your job's done Manny," Clara said, stopping the conversation from becoming awkward. "Thank you so much."

"Any time, Clara," Manny said, grabbing up his toolbox. "Next time you're in Sheetrock Hills, stop by and see us."

As Manny stepped out of the call box, he heard a distinctive whine and thrum coming from it. He turned around and watched it flicker out of sight. Just as it disappeared, Mr. Lopart came out of his store.

"Oh, Manny," Mr. Lopart said. "I thought I heard- Wait, where's the police box?"

"Oh," Manny said, looking back to where it stood. "It turned out that it wasn't supposed to be here at this time, so it went back."

"Oh that's too bad," Mr. Lopart said. "I would have felt so much safer knowing it was here."

"Manny and the tools were still chuckling as they entered Manny's Repair Shop.


End file.
